Alia, 20, received flak for participating in the show at a time when Muzaffarnagar riot victims are suffering.

“After Alia found out about the controversy yesterday, she texted me saying, ‘Papa I’ll not take a penny from this function. I’ll donate the money to the riot victims’,” Bhatt
said.

He also told a news channel, “It is my failure, more than hers. I should’ve told her to not go. Since the chief minister of UP sent out the invite, it was not possible for her to back out.” Meanwhile, actor Shah Rukh Khan defended Salman Khan’s performance at the event, saying that it is wrong to nitpick on actors.